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Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Reception and call quality Call quality has been great--probably more to do with Verizon's coverage in Chicago but phone radio is definitely working well!
- Display Um, highest ppi in history of commercial electronic devices? 1080p--the same as your 60" TV? This is should be 10/5. Also gorilla glass 2 is sweet.
- Battery life Because of phones e.g. Razr MAxx, it's hard to expect the phone's 2000 mAh battery to compete with a 3300 mAh. However, HTC's optimizations are good!
- Camera Great wide-angle camera (28mm I believe). Also, camera is flush with the backside instead of jutting out like S3.
- Ease of use Works great out of box. Sense is easy to navigate and use, by far prettiest UI compared to TouchWiz/Blur.
- Design and form factor This phone is ridiculously thin for all the massive power it has. Traditional HTC design cues with black + mesh aluminum red accents on the side.
- Portability (size / weight) Size is amazing. Actual dimensions are maybe 1 cm longer than S3 but it has 5" 1080p display compared to the 4.7" 720p.
- Media support Toggle-able beats audio--so you can add on the bass when you want and return to normal when you don't.
- Durability Gorilla Glass greatly improves durability of front display. However, sides seem to scratch fairly easily. Backside is durable and comfortable to hold.
- Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.) Android is the best ecosystem! Sideload apps, custom ROMs, and all the control/widgets you could want!
Detailed review
Pros:
+ great form factor: the black with red accents has been a great design element for many of HTC's iconic phones (dinc, etc), like the red side metal accents , the rear camera is completely flush with the backside
+ 5" display at 440 ppi is phenomenal.
+ About same size as S3 but much better display. 5" 1920x1080 vs 4.7" 1280x720
+ Curved Gorilla glass, love the tapering of the glass. And i'm going to assume eliminates the need for screen protectors. Maybe make this point more prominent.
+ Front and Back cameras perform well.
Neutral:
+ can't comment on wireless charging
+ battery life seems to be good (amazing considering the display resolution) so far though with Li-ion battery decay it may get substantially worse by 12-24 month range.
+ battery is non-removable: definitely makes the phone feel more solid without any easily removable parts but there's definitely a small subsection of powerusers that depend on removable batteries.
Cons:
+ scratches pretty easily on the sides, brushed it against my jack zipper and got a little nick. :(
+ it seems like the amount of apps Verizon is forcing onto their phones is increasing but being able to hide them from app drawer is nice.
+ no micro-SD though with 16 GB this is less of an issue + rise of cloud storage for things.
+ microUSB port cover--not sure if necessary and more of nuisance.
+ great form factor: the black with red accents has been a great design element for many of HTC's iconic phones (dinc, etc), like the red side metal accents , the rear camera is completely flush with the backside
+ 5" display at 440 ppi is phenomenal.
+ About same size as S3 but much better display. 5" 1920x1080 vs 4.7" 1280x720
+ Curved Gorilla glass, love the tapering of the glass. And i'm going to assume eliminates the need for screen protectors. Maybe make this point more prominent.
+ Front and Back cameras perform well.
Neutral:
+ can't comment on wireless charging
+ battery life seems to be good (amazing considering the display resolution) so far though with Li-ion battery decay it may get substantially worse by 12-24 month range.
+ battery is non-removable: definitely makes the phone feel more solid without any easily removable parts but there's definitely a small subsection of powerusers that depend on removable batteries.
Cons:
+ scratches pretty easily on the sides, brushed it against my jack zipper and got a little nick. :(
+ it seems like the amount of apps Verizon is forcing onto their phones is increasing but being able to hide them from app drawer is nice.
+ no micro-SD though with 16 GB this is less of an issue + rise of cloud storage for things.
+ microUSB port cover--not sure if necessary and more of nuisance.
good review!
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